HINDA MARCU

Hinda Graubard Marcu, a mother and legal secretary who in her 50's fulfilled a life-long dream to become a lawyer, died in in her home in Monroe, NJ on July 24 after a short illness. She was 87 and died peacefully in her sleep.

Hinda, known to friends and family as "Honey," left college in the middle of her junior year at Temple University in 1953 to get married and move from her native Philadelphia to Washington, DC, where her husband, Howard Saul Marcu, a newly minted lawyer, had just been commissioned a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army J.A.G. Corps. Hinda found work as a secretary at the Pentagon, where Howard was trying criminal cases in military court. Her mother, although delighted that Hinda had found the love of her life, made her daughter promise that she would someday finish her last three semesters of college.

Hinda and Howard returned to Philadelphia in 1955 and ultimately settled in Springfield (Delaware County), in the western suburbs, where they raised three children, all boys. When the youngest entered first grade in 1965, Hinda kept her promise and returned to Temple to take night classes. Before dashing off to North Philadelphia each evening for philosophy and journalism classes, Hinda prepared dinner, which Howard, then a solo practitioner working from an office in their home, fed the boys. In 1968, Hinda graduated from Temple with a B.S. in journalism. She worked days as Howard's legal secretary, but soon started paralegal school at night, and, after graduating, began work as a paralegal. In 1980, after her oldest graduated from law school and with her youngest half-way through college, Hinda returned to night school, this time as a law student at Delaware Law School of Widener University. Howard, by then a leading commercial real estate practitioner and a name partner at Sand Gibbs Marcu & Smilk in Newton Square, PA, took over the chores at home, including the shopping and the laundry, while Hinda studied the law and continued her day job as a paralegal at the Sand Gibbs firm.

Hinda graduated from Widener in 1984 and declared herself the "happiest 52-year-old woman in America." In truth, she already acted the part. She had fulfilled her promise to her mother and then some. She began her law career as a real estate lawyer at Sand Gibbs in 1984, where she later made partner. She advised businesses and individuals in real estate transactions and provided wise counsel to many clients who treasured her sound and practical judgment. Hinda retired, reluctantly, from the law practice she loved in 2003, and she and Howard, who had retired a year earlier, moved to Ventnor, NJ to watch the sunsets together from the balcony of their apartment overlooking Shelter Island Bay. Howard had been given a second lease on life in 1996 when he received a life-saving heart transplant at Temple University Hospital; he went on to live another 15 years. In 2011, Hinda's husband of 58 years and partner in the law of 20, died at 82.

Hinda was a prolific contributor to community and religious organizations. She was a founding member and served as president of Delaware County Jewish Community Center, Congregation Ner Tamid, in Springfield, and was an active member of the congregation for more than 40 years, including after the Congregation merged with Beth El in nearby Broomall. Hinda also served for many years as the Treasurer of the Elizabeth Roe Dunning Club, a charitable organization that provided grants and other services to women with blindness. She loved to learn and read her entire life, and after retiring, she took college courses, studied Talmud and philosophy and participated in book clubs into her late 80s. She was also an enthusiastic bridge player, until the pandemic suspended her two weekly games earlier this year.

Hinda Honey Graubard was born in Philadelphia to Elmer and Esther Graubard in 1932. Elmer was a garrulous bartender and owned a tavern in Southwest Philadelphia. Esther was a grand master bridge player and a homemaker. They raised Hinda and her younger sister, Ellen, in the Overbrook neighborhood of Philadelphia. Hinda graduated from Overbrook High School in 1950 (when a young Wilt Chamberlain was a freshman there) and started college at Temple that Fall. Hinda and Ellen were inseparable best friends for life and, until Hinda's recent passing, the two spoke every day. Hinda, Howard, Ellen and Ellen's husband, Dr. Martin B. Goldstein, were as close as couples can be, even vacationing together, and Martin was a real brother, not an in-law, to both Hinda and Howard.

A determined optimist, Hinda always seemed to be smiling, and her family routinely asked her to use her special powers of positivity to bring good weather to vacations and long weekends, which she delivered with uncanny reliability.

Hinda is survived by her three sons (Aaron, Leonard, and David), their wives (Mary Lu Bilek, Ilene Davidson, and Rona Solomon Marcu), nine grandchildren (Daniel Marcu (Lauren McCarthy), Aviya Ben-Yashar (Itamar Ben-Yashar), Adam Marcu, Benjamin Marcu, Elisha Marcu, Joshua Marcu, Justin Davidson, Brianna Davidson, and Kylie Davidson) and 2 great-grandchildren (Shoham Tzvi Ben-Yashar and Liya Ben-Yashar), with one more on the way. (Three of her grandchildren were born on Hinda's birthday.) Hinda is also survived by her beloved sister Ellen (Dr. Martin B. Goldstein).

Contributions in Hinda's memory can be made to The American Friends of Israel Elwyn (www.IsraelElwyn.org.il).